Elbow injury forces Blanton onto disabled list

Before completing the fifth full turn of the rotation, the Phillies' No. 5 starter will be placed on the disabled list.

Right-hander Joe Blanton, originally scheduled to start Friday night against the New York Mets, will instead be headed to the 15-day disabled because of a medial impingement of the right elbow.

There was no word Thursday, an off day on the Phillies' schedule, on how long Blanton is expected to be sidelined or how and when he was injured.

Blanton was coming off his two best starts of the season.

After giving up a combined 12 earned runs in his first two starts, Blanton held the Milwaukee Brewers to two earned runs in seven innings on April 18 and then repeated the same pitching line in a 4-2 victory over the Padres on Saturday.

Blanton, 30, is 0-1 with a 5.92 ERA in four starts this season.

To fill his spot on the roster and in the rotation, 23-year-old Vance Worley was recalled from Class AAA Lehigh Valley and was inserted into the rotation against the Mets on Friday.

Worley made his major league debut last July and was 1-1 with a 1.38 ERA in five games (two starts) with the Phillies. With Lehigh Valley this season, where he is 2-2 with a 2.78 ERA in four starts.

The move to put Blanton on the disabled list is retroactive to April 24, meaning he would be eligible to return on May 10.

Entering Thursday night, Phillies' starters had 11 victories, tied for the second most in the National League, and sported a 3.66 ERA, fifth best in the NL).

--Although the Phillies hit three home runs and exploded for eight runs in the final game of a seven-game West Coast trip, their offense has been in a collective funk in the final three weeks of April.

The Phillies had scored four or fewer runs in 14 consecutive games before the final two games of the just-completed series with the Diamondbacks and rank eighth in the National League in runs with 108.

After scoring 56 runs in their first eight games, an average of seven per game, the Phillies have scored 52 in their last 16, an average of 3.25.

Raul Ibanez is hitless in 26 at-bats, Carlos Ruiz is hitless in his last 23 at-bats and Wilson Valdez is in a 1-for-22 funk. But the Phillies may have help coming in the near future.

In his first minor league rehab game, rookie outfielder Domonic Brown hit a home run and finished 2-for-4 for Class A Clearwater on Wednesday afternoon. A day earlier, Brown hit two home runs in an extended spring training game.

"It feels pretty good; I'm almost at 100 percent," Brown told MLB.com. "It just feels good to get back out there getting into games."

Brown began the season on the 15-day disabled list after breaking the hamate bone in his right hand on March 5 and undergoing surgery three days later.

When he is deemed ready to rejoin the big league team, which could still be a few weeks away since he had only 16 at-bats in spring training, Brown could add much-needed punch to the Phillies lineup.

The Phillies' corner outfielders have combined for only five home runs through the team's first 24 games.

The 23-year-old Brown hit .327 with 20 home runs and 68 RBI in 93 games between Class AAA Lehigh Valley and Class AA Reading in 2010.